Re: Rare Breed used to be better

Originally Posted by Bluffhunter

For my personal tastes out of all the $50 or less bourbons I have, Rare Breed is the best and is regularly available unlike alot of the barrel proofs. I would love to be able to find a bottle from way back that everyone says is better!

is it just me or does it seem as if this stuff isn't going to be discontinued anytime soon? thought that was the official statement a few months ago...

Re: Rare Breed used to be better

Originally Posted by ewj

I thougt word was (not in this thread) that forgiven would take RBs place

WTRB-03, has subjectively seemed to be an extremly slow mover for a long time around Chicago, even post bourbon boom. The same bottles around long enough, I would think of it as the cockroach bourbon, able to survive a nuclear bomb. Forgiven has easily surpassed it though, see enough stores with display cases of it and sure don't look like the stack is coming down. I'm lucky to have had many a taste of the dusties but think 03 WTRB is still a fine bourbon (unlike Forgiven) and especially when I put a few away at $30...because nobody else was buying them, even at that price and recently.

Re: Rare Breed used to be better

I just finally bought a bottle of the WT-03RB, my first Rare Breed. I guess I'm just used to dusties more than some, but I just can't get over the alcohol taste to it. A nice splash of water knocked it down, but the "heat" in this isn't like the current OGD 114 or some of my old S-W Old Weller Antique, which is similar proof. There's just something that reminds me of some of the biting cheaper bourbons I've had, and it's not a good thing.

Re: Rare Breed used to be better

Originally Posted by squire

That's my understanding as well and unfortunately the all copper column still is a remembrance of the past. What the Kentucky distillers do today (and others around the World I suppose) is load the interior of the stainless columns with scrap copper over which the alcohol vapor flows.

I don't know if the all copper still at Stitzel-Weller is still usable, it will be interesting to see if Diageo refurbishes that along with the distillery.

Stainless is a bad idea for many reasons. Although the metal itself is cheaper than copper, stainless is much harder and more brittle than copper, so it's very difficult to form. If you want to join two pieces of it, you have to TIG weld it instead of just silver soldering it. If you want your still to look like it's copper, you'd have to have it painted or plated, neither of which is cheap if you want it to look right AND last (WT's still looked like copper this spring). Even though the stainless would last longer, you still have to load it with scrap copper to reduce the sulfides. Add all that up, and I doubt there's any real savings to a stainless steel still.